New lawsuit could delay Royal Caribbean’s return to key port
This popular destination has been off-limits to certain ships and could continue to be.
San Juan Cruise Port in Puerto Rico suffered damage to one of its piers (Pier 3 West) in April 2024 when MSC Meraviglia collided with it. Specifically, the massive ship hit a structure known as a Berthing Dolphin, causing “catastrophic damage,” and requiring extensive (and costly) repairs before it can be used.
As the name “Pier 3” implies, this is only one of several piers in San Juan that can accommodate a cruise ship. So, to be clear, the San Juan Cruise Port is still operational.
Related: Why Royal Caribbean is swapping Labadee, Haiti stops for San Juan
However, Pier 3 is capable of accommodating larger vessels, including Royal Caribbean’s Oasis Class ships, and this has caused several cruise ships to change their itineraries and skip San Juan entirely.
Although progress has been made with the repairs, the pier still isn’t ready to receive cruise ships. And it could take longer than expected to restore service, especially considering a recent development.
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New lawsuit could delay Royal Caribbean's return
San Juan Cruise Port recently filed a lawsuit against MSC, as well as its insurers, to attempt to recoup some of the cost of the damages.
MSC is being accused of negligence for operating its ship with excessive speed and failure to follow several proper docking procedures, including not using available tug assistance or aligning the ship with the mooring dolphin properly, according to the lawsuit,
The lawsuit also names Hartford Underwriting Agency, which is San Juan Cruise Port’s insurance broker, Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association, which is MSC’s insurance carrier, and insurance broker Willis Towers Watson.
I’ll spare you any further technical details of the lawsuit, but the bottom line is that San Juan Cruise Port is attempting to sue for the costs to repair the pier, as well as for lost business from not being able to accommodate many planned cruise ships. It’s unclear exactly how many ships have canceled stops in San Juan, but in Royal Caribbean’s case, one example is that the Oasis-Class Symphony of the Seas hasn’t been able to complete planned visits.
The latest update from the cruise port (from November) is that it was working to restore service and needed the U.S. Coast Guard to complete assessment studies to determine whether the pier is safe to use. And local media reports had hoped the pier would be ready to receive ships by late January, but that isn’t the case.
Some Royal Caribbean itineraries have been changed
While Royal Caribbean has been substituting other ports in itineraries, cruisers aren’t all happy about the unexpected changes.
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For example, cruises on Symphony of the Seas in December and January were forced to skip San Juan and also skip a planned stop at St. Maarten as a result of the re-routing, substituting Royal Caribbean’s private resort in Labadee, Haiti, and a stop in Falmouth, Jamaica, instead.
This included a New Year's (read: expensive) sailing that departed on Dec. 29.
Not surprisingly, many cruisers aren’t excited about the changes. While it isn’t true for all passengers, many people plan visits around specific ports, and San Juan is a popular one. The same can be said for the half French, half Dutch St. Maarten.
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On several cruise travel Facebook groups and message boards, travelers were generally disappointed with the changes. Some commented (correctly) how both Haiti and Jamaica are on U.S. travel advisory lists, while others were simply looking forward to the original ports and were disappointed they weren’t offered an option to reschedule.
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